Abuse Swept Under Rug At State-Run Homes For Developmentally Disabled

Employees at New York state-run homes for the developmentally disabled who sexually abused, beat and taunted residents are infrequently fired, reports a New York Times investigation. Instead they are mostly just transferred to work at another group home.

In the 399 cases of state workers with a serious offense in the last two years, only 30 of them resulted in termination. Out of 13,000 allegations of abuse in 2009, only 5% got referred to the police.

The Times report faulted a system where the agency was in charge of policing itself, even though employees in charge of investigation had no formal or forensic training. In addition, the union has aggressively fought back against all terminations.

In response to the article, Governor Andrew Cuomo forced the head of the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, the agency that oversees the group homes, to resign. The Cuomo administration pledged to immediately conduct a thorough review of the agency.